AN INSPIRATION FOR ARTISTS
Artists have worked on and around Ballast Quay for centuries.  They were inspired not only by the serenity of the Thames, the rise and fall of the tides and the views of the river traffic, but also by the busy industrial wharves, which framed the daily life of the residents of the historic buildings on Ballast Quay and formed a noisy and dirty background to their lives, a complete contrast to the serenity of the river.  Thanks to the work they created of the everyday scenes that they observed, we have inherited valuable 
Click on the images to enlarge
records of a lost industrial past that has disappeared forever.  The decline of industrialisation has not diminished the artist’s passion for the area and groups of artists regularly get together to draw and be inspired by the river and the buildings that still border on it.  The riverside is a mecca for photographers and film makers too, affording interesting locations and exciting photo opportunities.
Thames Craft Dry Dock
 Watercolour by Pamela Wright
Union Wharf Garden, Ballast Quay
Etching by Annette Johnson 
Courtesy of Mary Morison
Ballast Quay c.1852
Oil. Artist unknown
Courtesy of Jonathan & Yvonne Horsfall Turner
The quayside at Lovell's Wharf in the 1980s
Photograph © Richard Proctor
13 Ballast Quay
Sketch by Kathleen Naroznik
Courtesy of Mary Morison
Lovell's Wharf cranes in the mist 1980s
Photograph © Richard Proctor
Riverside House, Greenwich
Etching by Elaine Marshall
Courtesy of Mary Morison
Lovell's Wharf quayside and cranes 1980s
Photograph © Richard Proctor
Evening, Greenwich

Lithograph by R.S.E. Gaillon, 
published by W.Day 
© The British Museum, London
A shore fisherman wends his way home along the riverside footpath towards Ballast Quay, with a basket of freshly caught eels, or other fish.  Visible in the middle ground are the cranes on Anchor Iron Wharf with ships at their moorings, and in the distance the buildings of Greenwich Hospital.
The view from Ballast Quay downriver 1980s
Photograph © Richard Proctor
Thames Path
Photograph by Kate O’Callaghan
The Old Royal Naval College from Ballast Quay 
Watercolour artist unknown 
Courtesy of Philippa Goodrich
Old Coal Jetty Greenwich 3
Basia Burrough
Oil on canvas 
Courtesy of the artist
Old Coal Jetty Greenwich 
Basia Burrough
Oil on canvas 
Courtesy of the artist
Ballast Quay
Print by Alex Packham
Courtesy of Philippa Goodrich & Tony Fallshaw
Low Tide Greenwich 
Basia Burrough 
Oil on canvas
Courtesy of William Swords
Low Tide Greenwich 
Basia Burrough 
Oil on canvas
Courtesy of Pusia Chatfield
Lovell’s Wharf 
Print by Elaine Marshall
Courtesy of Kate Joekes and Dan Hayes
Ballast Quay c.1950
by Doris Mabel Little
 
Left: Under the Coal Pier by Terry Scales 
​(click on the link to see more paintings by Terry Scales)
Robinson's scrapyard 
Print by Elaine Marshall
Courtesy of Kate Joekes and Dan Hayes